Early childhood staff to strike in March

The childcare industry, made up mostly of women, is pushing for a 30 per cent pay rise for workers.

Early childhood educators across the country say "enough is enough" to a "measly" $21 per hour and will walk off the job next month in a fight for better pay.

Parents were being asked to keep their children at home on Tuesday, March 27, so educators can send a message to the Turnbull government about how serious they were about the equal pay issue.

The action came after the federal government failed to meet a February 1 deadline set by their union to deliver funding for equal pay.

"Malcolm Turnbull has driven educators to take this extreme step as he continues to ignore their demand for equal pay," Helen Gibbons, assistant national secretary of United Voice, the early childhood union told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

Childcare workers were being paid half the average weekly wage, which can no longer be tolerated, she said.

"Everybody knows this except Malcolm Turnbull," she said.

The industry, made up mostly of women, is pushing for a 30 per cent pay rise for workers.

"After years of fighting for pay equity, early childhood educators have had enough," said early childhood educator Gwendolyn Alcock on Sunday.

Being paid a "measly" $21 an hour was "unacceptable" said Ms Alcock, who has worked in the industry for seven years.